As a boy, my father would tell me stories about cars
of his boyhood. One in particular was the Cord. The Cord was this
fantastic automobile designed to capture the excitement of the airplane.
The car had sleek aerodynamic pontoon fenders with headlamps that would
retract and disappear giving the car a very unique bold look. The
hood was a simple one piece design that sat on top of a wrap around louvered
grill. Some people thought it looked like a coffin - hence the nickname
"coffin nosed Cord". This added to the mystique.

Then in the early 1970's I got my first chance to see
a real Cord. It was on a trailer parked a few blocks from our house.
The Cord was a very cool car.

My first Cord seen in Albuquerque NM early 1970's

Years went by but my interest did not fade. In
1977 I went to learn mechanical engineering at the University of New Mexico
along with my twin brother Brad.

At that time kit cars (GT Bradley and other VW powered
kits) were quite popular. Yet, no one made a Cord kit (too bad since
they sort of look like a VW bug). Eventually someone did.
A group from Florida started making a full size fiberglass Cord replica.
Unfortunately the price was $24,000 (2/3rd the cost of our house!)

Naturally, the only alternative was to build your own
from scratch. That is what my brother Brad did. He started
his project in 1979. In 1981, we took 4 hours of independent study
to explore the design and fabrication of a chassis for his fiberglass
body. I researched frame and rear suspension designs and performed
the finite element analysis. My brother explored front suspension
designs. Another colleague, Kerry Walcot, explored regulations.

The project was quite impressive and ended up winning
best of show at the University's engineering competition.

Brad's Cord features a body made out of solid fiberglass
(1/4 inch thick or greater) and a robust frame with side impact protection
in the doors. The engine is a massive 440 cid coupled with a three
speed automatic. The front suspension is an "A" frame
with torsion bar springs. The rear is four bar linkage with coil
springs. Status of the car: It has not yet been driven on
the road for any significant distance. It is not yet registered.

My experiece with my brother's Cord led me to believe
that I, too, could make my own car! So in 1984 I started.
The idea was to make a light weight and agile car. It would feature
a light weight body (fiberglass/foam/fiberglass composite), four wheel
independent suspension, four wheel disk brakes, and a small yet powerful
V8 (my old 1967 Mustang engine).

Little did I know how much effort it would take to complete.
More details follow....